Some time later.
「Fuaa… Fuu. Hey, I’m a bit tired, how about we take a break?」
「Yeah, of course. Then, shall we buy something from the vending machine outside and sit on a bench to rest?」
「Oh─, that sounds good. Alright, let’s go to the vending machine right away!」
「Roger that.」
So we left the library and went to buy drinks from the vending machine outside.
Then we started our break while sitting on a nearby bench.
「Gulp, gulp… Phaa! Mmm─, this is revitalizing─!」
「Yeah, definitely revitalizing─. Carbonated drinks are the best when you’re tired.」
「Haha, right─! Ah, right. By the way… there’s something I want to ask Kazuki.」
「Hmm─? What’s up?」
As we were sitting on the bench, sipping our drinks and relaxing, Natsue suddenly said he had something he wanted to ask me.
I turned my face towards Natsue, wondering what it could be.
「Well, you see… hasn’t Kazuki’s complexion improved a lot recently?」
「My complexion? No, I think I’m just the same as always… can you even visibly tell the difference in complexion?」
「Yeah, it’s totally noticeable. I mean, Kazuki used to look really sluggish in the afternoon classes, right? But recently, that’s completely gone, and now it seems like you’re really focused during lessons─.」
「Eh? Ah, now that you mention it…」
Indeed, now that he mentions it, I’ve been feeling much better physically lately.
I used to feel quite sluggish, but recently that feeling has completely disappeared. So I feel like I’ve been able to concentrate really well in class lately.
「Right? See, you do notice it yourself. But what happened? Did you start going to bed early and waking up early for your health?」
「No, no, I haven’t been doing anything like that. If anything, I often stay up late playing games with my sister Mai.」
「Ahaha, Kazuki and Mai-chan get along so well as always─. But then, it’s not because you’re getting more sleep that your condition has improved.」
When I said that, Natsue laughed and replied. Natsue knows Mai well since he’s visited my house many times.
「But if that’s the case… has Kazuki changed anything else?」
「Eh? U-Unn, when you ask if I’ve changed anything… ah.」
When Natsue asked me that, I thought for a moment if there was anything that had changed, but I quickly realized.
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Come to think of it, recently I’ve been eating a delicious homemade bento for lunch every day.
「What’s up? Did you remember something you changed?」
「Y-Yeah, well, recently I’ve stopped eating just sweet bread or jelly for lunch… and I’ve been eating a proper delicious lunch every day.」
「Eh… Ehh!? R-Really!?」
When I said that, Natsue looked at me with a very surprised expression.
「S-So Kazuki has stopped living off convenience store food for lunch!?」
「Y-Yeah. Well…」
Until recently, I always ate things like sweet bread, jelly, or cookies bought from the convenience store for lunch. I preferred those because they were easy to eat quickly and tasty.
And since Natsue obviously knew about such eating habits, he was quite surprised to hear that I had stopped buying those things from the convenience store.
「Hee, I see! So now Kazuki is eating lunch in the school cafeteria?」
「Eh? Ah, u-umm…」
「Hm? What’s up?」
When Natsue said that, I hesitated a bit.
Well, I could have honestly said that I’m eating a bento with Sasaki-san alone on the rooftop… but saying that might cause Natsue to misunderstand.
And if that happened, it could cause trouble for Sasaki-san, so I decided to deliberately dodge that part.
「U-Umm, well, that is… ahh, yeah, something like that.」
「Hee, I see! Yeah, yeah, I get it─! The cafeteria food is delicious and well-balanced in terms of nutrition, so that’s probably why Kazuki’s complexion has improved!」
「Y-Yeah, maybe so. But when I think about it properly… sure, sweet bread was really tasty, but eating the same thing every day must have made my nutritional balance quite skewed…」
That might have been one of the reasons why I always felt sluggish during afternoon classes.
But now, thanks to Sasaki-san, I’m eating a well-balanced bento every day, so I think my physical condition has improved a lot recently.
But, when I think about it…
(I feel like I’ve accumulated an enormous debt of gratitude towards Sasaki-san…)
Of course, I pay Sasaki-san for the food every day, but even that doesn’t seem nearly enough to repay this debt of gratitude…
(Unn, I wish I could find some way to repay even a little bit of this great favor I’m receiving from Sasaki-san…)
So I decided to seriously think about this again.
After all, Sasaki-san is an important friend to me, and I think it’s only natural to want to properly repay this great favor I’ve received from such an important friend.